The Vigil
by ijs1337
Summary: Ruby has a tradition. A vigil she keeps once a year. Her teammates don't know about it, and when she puts the vigil ahead of the team, the team itself starts to fracture.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This fic is very much a case of "Hit by a bolt of inspiration." Specifically, Ruby's trailer, and Red Like Roses Part 2. **

**Anyway. I own nothing relating to RWBY. The title art is by HikariYui on deviantart. Please review, comment, or criticize. Most of all, enjoy.**

The Vigil

Chapter 1

It wasn't the fact that a whistle was blaring in her ear that woke Weiss up. It was the lack of one.

While Ruby had more or less abandoned the practice after the first few days at Beacon, she'd occasionally break it out as something of a joke. Or maybe as a throwback to slightly simpler times. And while she tried to not make a habit of it, Weiss had thought she was discovering a pattern in Ruby's uses of the whistle. She'd been expecting a whistle this morning, so the innate surprise at the lack of one was enough to wake her up. Wondering just why, for she was fairly certain she wasn't wrong about her perceived pattern, she checked Ruby's bunk.

It was empty. In fact, it looked like it had been empty for a while. Checking around the bed, Weiss found that Ruby's outfit and Crescent Rose were both missing.

Weiss strode over to the other set of beds and gave the bunk a careful shake; just enough so the two sleeping girls could feel it, but not so much that the precarious balance of books holding one bed above the other would not be disrupted.

"What?" Yang moaned groggily, rubbing away at her eyes to try and get herself fully up.

"Ruby's gone." Weiss said urgently. "Her clothes and her weapon are missing too."

"What?!" The speed with Yang went from sleepily half-aware to utterly alert was startling, but gazing at the still slightly disheveled top bunk her sister used, she quickly calmed down. Blake's own inspection had similar results. Yang took her watch off the bedside table and surreptitiously checked the date.

"Maybe she was just trying to get an early start." Blake offered.

"I'm not sure," Weiss continued. "Has she ever got up well before any of us?" Weiss let her teammates think and nod before she further explained herself "And furthermore, we've got a scheduled training session for the Vytal Festival today. What if whatever she's done, or wherever she is-"

"Weiss, seriously. You're overreacting." Blake said, dropping from her hold on Ruby's bunk. Neither of them noticed the slightly knowing, guilty look on Yang's face.

* * *

Ruby leaned back against the ship's railing. An airship probably would have been faster, she supposed, but commercial airships were about three times as expensive as regular boats. Looking at her watch, she experienced a pang of regret. She wouldn't be able to get there and back till well before the day was up. Looking back up, at the cliffs in the distance, she realized that, regardless, she still needed to do this. She sighed and resigned herself to a good scolding whenever she finally got back.

* * *

Oobleck took another sip of coffee before he zipped back in front of the board.

"So, I believe that covers all the basic history behind the Festival. We'll be going into greater detail next time, and in the time in-between." He paused to take another sip. "Pages 79 to 94, make sure you've all read them before Thursday." He stopped talking as the class collectively groaned, then shifted his gaze. "Miss Schnee, Miss Xiao Lin, Miss Belladona; I expect you to inform your… absentee of the assignment. And perhaps instruct her to not make a habit of skipping classes in the future."

Weiss groaned in exasperation. They'd heard much the same from almost every teacher in the school that day.

* * *

Her hood pulled up around her head, Ruby made her way through the forest to the edge of the cliff face. To the one place she'd come to be.

A small stone, emblazoned with the image of a rose, sat in the ground. Beneath the rose there was an inscription: "Summer Rose - Thus, I kindly scatter."

She slowly kneeled down in before it. She promised herself that she wouldn't cry this time, that she wouldn't spend too long here, even though she wanted to, yet also wanted to run as far and as fast from the stone as she could.

She felt tears leak out from between her clenched eyelids and slowly drip down her cheeks. She gazed at the stone, remembering.

She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry this time, that she wouldn't spend the entire day here. Summer had promised her, every time she left, that she would always make it back. By the time Ruby got herself under control and looked up from the stone, the sun was setting.

So much for promises.

* * *

Weiss angrily stabbed her fork into the small cube of meat she'd cut. Ruby still hadn't shown up, and her absence had continued to cost them, especially in the training session Professor Goodwitch had planned. Weiss was still sore from the impact of several of Nora's heart-emblazoned grenades, and she shot a quick, meaningless glare in the girl's direction from across the table. Despite Team RWBY being short a member and leader both, Goodwitch had put them in anyway, and they'd quickly learned that being one leading huntress short put them at a distinct disadvantage.

"I think it's already dead, Weiss." Yang put in, smirking, as Weiss made another angry stab at her food.

"Oh, quiet. If your sister could be bothered to show up, maybe we wouldn't be the laughing stock of the school." Weiss snapped.

"I'm not sure it's quite that bad." Blake suggested.

"Hey, back up a second," Yang said angrily. "Don't put this all on Ruby."

"Who else can we put it on, Yang?" Weiss asked. "She's our leader. She should be here. She should have been here all day, and we don't even know where she is."

* * *

Ruby walked back through the forest, brushing a hand across her face to catch an errant tear. As she entered a large clearing, she stopped briefly at an odd feeling. A subtle tingle down her spine, as though trouble was coming.

When several packs' worth of Beowolves burst out of the trees, she knew what that feeling was.

She reached behind her back and let Crescent Rose unfold. A harsh smile grew across her lips. She swung her scythe around and fired, blasting herself into the thick of the nearest pack, her scythe whirling around, leaving bisected chunks trailing petals of roses in its wake. She turned to the next pack, the smile still on her face. She was glad that these Grimm had got the drop on her.

She had needed something evil to kill.

**So, yeah. This is me tapping into a bit of the seriousness, angst and tragedy of RWBY that is clearly lurking just beneath the surface, and we will hopefully see a bit more of next season. I'll be continuing this for another chapter or so, but this isn't going to be a really long-term story (I already have one of those that I am sort of neglecting to work on this, simply because I knew that if I didn't get this out, I wouldn't be able to focus on said other story. And I just really wanted to get this story out there, too).**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: I realized earlier today that I had no concrete idea of where I wanted this story to actually take place in relation to the real story of Volume 1. I'd originally planned it as happening after Episode 16 (hence all the talk of the practically-upon-them Vytal Festival), but an idea hit me that this could be before Episode 12, and Ruby's little speech to Jaune about what a leader needs to be (this story being the point where she really figures all that out). Otherwise, it's Ruby needing to practice what she preached post-Volume-1, to varying degrees of success. I can't decide which I prefer, so I leave the timing of the story up to you, the readers, to decide for yourselves. I do not own RWBY. Please review, comment, or criticize. Most of all, enjoy.**

It was well after dark when Ruby finally made it back to the dorms. She would have gotten back a bit sooner, but she kept running across small packs of Grim. Through no fault of her own, she mentally told to herself. It was just bad luck that she'd come across over a dozen roaming packs on her way back to the docks.

As she reached the door to Team RWBY's room, she mentally rehearsed her "bad luck" explanation to give to the team in the morning.

When she opened the door and found three completely awake people turn and look right at her, one glaring daggers, she realized she needed to break the explanation out much quicker than she thought.

* * *

"Where have you been?" Weiss nearly yelled, her face twisted into an utterly furious grimace.

"I was-"

"Do you know how worried we all were when we woke up and found you missing?" Weiss had strode up from her bed and was standing right in front of Ruby, arms crossed. Everything about her said she had a righteous tirade to launch and she would not be stopped until it was heard.

"I meant to leave a-" Ruby tried to explain, pointing at her bed and the open notebook with an empty page, a "don't-freak-out" note she'd never managed to write.

"All the classes you missed today! How exactly do you think you're going to be able to make up for all of those?" Weiss cut in again.

"I was just planning on-" Ruby tried to explain her intensive late-night study plan, something the team was rather familiar with.

"And don't even get me started on the training session we had scheduled!" Weiss raged on.

Ruby had no response to that, other than to quickly look down guiltily at the floor and fiddle with the hem of her skirt. In truth, she'd completely forgotten about the training session with JNPR that day. And in retrospect she would have sprung for the airship, and maybe tried harder to avoid a few of the Grimm packs, if she'd remembered about that.

"What could you have even been doing all day that was so important?" Weiss demanded, throwing her arms up in exasperation.

"I was-" Ruby began to say before Weiss held up a hand to stop her.

"Just… I am so furious right now, I don't even want to know. But whatever it was, I seriously doubt it could be more important than…"

At that point, Ruby wasn't sure if she simply tuned Weiss out, or if she inadvertently pulled a Yang and put on such a violently furious expression that she'd managed to frighten Weiss into silence. In the back of her head, a small, logical bit of her was pleading with the rest of her. _She doesn't know. You never told her. You never told Blake either. They don't know. Don't take it personal. Don't overreact._

Ruby was in no mood to listen to that bit of herself, however. She spun around on her heel, grabbed the door, and slammed it as hard and as loud as she could on her way out. She quickly dashed down the hall, so that when Weiss opened the door to follow, the only thing she saw was a trail of rose petals, fluttering gently to the floor.

Weiss heard Yang sigh, and turned back into the room.

"Well, I really hoped it wouldn't come to this, but…" Yang slid to the edge of her bunk and looked down at Blake and Weiss. "If she isn't going to tell the rest of you, I guess I'm going to have to do it for her."

* * *

Summer stood, blade held loosely at her side, as a pack of Beowolves charged her. The obvious Alpha was within claws reach when she moved, launching herself into the air in a flurry of white rose petals, taking the Grimm's head with her with a single swing. She twisted in the air and came down, blade whirling through the pack, leaving sliced limbs and torsos and heads in its wake. As she sliced through the head of another Beowolf, one tried to jump at her from behind.

Summer spun around and thrust her sword through its chest. It hung on the blade, snarling and futilely swiping at her. She twisted the blade a full 180 degrees, then relaxed her grip on the hilt proper and squeezed the small handlebar attached on the side.

A loud boom sounded, the attachment built into the hilt lit up, and the Beowolf's head was blown clean off, the force of the gunshot sending the rest of the body sliding off the blade.

Summer turned and saw the next bunch coming. More Beowolves, and what looked like a few Ursa. Not Majors, but small comfort that was.

She dove into the pack again, hacking and firing away, when a heavy swipe caught her off-guard and sent her sprawling. She tried to reach out and slow the oncoming Ursa, but she couldn't move her left arm. She settled for thrusting her sword with her good arm up into its head, and letting off a shot for good measure. She frantically fought her way out of the pack, and sank to one knee, propping herself up on her sword. Gazing into the distance, she saw the last of the mass of Grimm making its way toward her. And she was down one arm.

She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up, holding her sword with one hand as best she could, determined that not one would get past her.

* * *

"She was a huntress," Yang continued, "and one of the best, the way I heard it. She died when Ruby was around five years old, defending a little town a couple miles outside of Vale. My family had been friends with hers for years, and we took Ruby in. Once she was old enough to hear the whole story, I noticed she started vanishing, once a year, just on this day. She was always back by the next morning, but she was never around today." Yang smiled sadly. "It took a few years before she would tell us where she was going every time. We'd all guessed, but nobody wanted to pry. We all figured she deserved some space."

* * *

With a scream of effort, Summer drove her sword into the final Alpha Beowolf in front of her, and lifted with her one good arm. When she had the tip of the blade pointing away from the rest of her, she pulled the handlebar and blasted the Grimm out over the cliff face. She sank to her knees as it fell, howling, towards the sea below.

Summer could barely prop herself up on her sword. Her white cloak was torn and stained red in over a dozen places, and the snow beneath her feet was quickly going the way of her cloak. As she drew a few ragged, painful breaths, she realized dimly what would probably happen to her. Her vision grew fuzzy, and her breaths less and less frequent.

As she dropped limply into the snow, not feeling the ground or the cold or the wind, she could only manage one thought.

_I'm sorry, baby._

**Trying to decide whether Ruby and Yang were foster sisters or step sisters was an nightmare, especially when trying to figure what about their actual relation Monty has and hasn't hinted at as being correct (and trying to come up with a way to try and phrase step sisters and maybe-blood-relatives in way that didn't seem overly contrite (second cousins once removed) or possibly incestual on a parents' part). Eventually, I just said "screw it, half of this story probably isn't going to be right anyway by the time Volume 2 is over, so Ruby's adopted, cause adoption is simpler to explain."**

**Oh, and in case it didn't come across, Summer's weapon is basically Red Queen from DMC 4, just instead of the handlebar spraying magic gasoline over the blade, it fires a gun built into the hilt.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: There was originally some self-indulgent OC inclusion planned for this bit.**

**Rest easy, that's not in here anymore. The OC will be saved for his own story (though I might throw up a bit about him on the RWBY forums, just to judge reaction to the character), whenever I get around to writing it (which admittedly might be a while, given my other major, pre-existing story pursuit). But, I'm rambling now. So, I do not own RWBY. Please review, comment, or criticize. Most of all, enjoy.**

Ruby shifted on her seat. She'd gone straight to Beacon's airship docks from the dorms, and had spent most of the morning aimlessly wandering the city. She didn't have any classes until much later in the day, so her running off wouldn't do anything to her probably exorbitant workload. But it wouldn't help her with her other problem: the fact that she had ran out on the team, and _still_ hadn't told them. Maybe Yang had told them by now. She wasn't sure if that would make things easier or harder.

She'd never been good at talking about this. It had taken her years to even admit it to Yang, and she'd told her friends at Signal barely a few months before she'd been moved up into Beacon. She'd planned on telling the team about it. Eventually. She just hadn't figured it would cause all the problems it had. She gazed off in the distance, at where she knew the cliff was. Inside the city, the view was blocked by the buildings and walls. But she still knew exactly where it was, from anywhere in Vale.

Lost as she was in her thoughts, Ruby only briefly registered the metal tapping sound. It was the familiar smell of overly black coffee that brought her out of her contemplation. Turning, she saw perhaps one of the last people she wanted to.

"Going somewhere?" Professor Ozpin asked.

* * *

Weiss sighed in exasperation. The team's search for their missing leader was turning up dead end after dead end. All the usual places they had expected her to be: Signal campus, that one Dust shop in Old Town, the weapons emporium, the combat skirt store in the strip mall, the bakery on 16th. They'd all come up empty.

As she marched across the street, she thought about the absolute mess they'd all landed themselves in. And she wasn't sure who she was more mad at. Ruby, for not telling them; or herself, for not even letting her.

It wasn't like she couldn't understand Ruby's side of things.

* * *

"Professor Ozpin, I-" Ruby began to try and explain, but stopped as he held up a hand. Oddly enough, his cane stayed perfectly upright without his hand holding it.

"When I kept getting notices about your absence in every class yesterday, I figured you'd be in for a slight disagreement with your teammates. Or at least one of them." Ozpin grabbed his cane again and came a bit closer to her. He took a sip from his cup before he continued. "I can only assume that the fact that you're wandering around outside the academy means things didn't go that well." He said sympathetically.

"Well, it's kind of a long story, professor. You see, I was-" There was that hand again, and the cane still somehow stayed upright.

"You don't need to tell me, Ruby." Ozpin said. He took hold of his cane again, and shifted his stance, gazing off into the distance.

At the same spot Ruby always did. Right at the cliff.

"You… you knew…" She couldn't finish. The thought seemed somehow perfectly sensible yet utterly alien at the same time.

"We were schoolmates, when we were young. I was actually on a team with her dusty older brother." He supplied a slight nod in response to Ruby's look of astonishment. "I mentioned before that I've made many mistakes in my time. Well, letting her go out to that village alone ranks among the greatest." He sighed, and sat down next to Ruby. "There wasn't a person who knew her that wasn't shocked and disarmed when the news came in. Plenty who didn't know her that were shocked, too. The loose talk at the Vytal Festival that year… Well, hunters, as you'll soon learn, are a close-knit community, and when one of her caliber goes, word travels fast."

Despite herself, Ruby couldn't help the small proud and amazed smile that came over her face.

"I guess I never knew she was so… good." She said softly.

"She was one of the best." Ozpin affirmed. He took another sip from his mug, and sighed. "However, I think we can both agree that this," He waved a hand at Ruby, focusing it on her combat skirt and Crescent Rose, then turned slightly so the wave encompassed Beacon, far in the distance, "Isn't what she would have wanted for you."

Ruby remained silent for a long time, mulling that over.

"I know." She finally said. "I've thought about this, for a long time, and… that village. If she hadn't been there," Ruby shook her head sadly. "She was all they had. If it hadn't been for her, none of the people there would be alive today. And whatever else it means, I think that… being able to be that kind of person, to be able to do that for others, is worth it." She finished firmly. Ozpin smiled at her.

"Well, I'm also certain that she'd still be proud of what you've grown up to be." He said. "But I also can't help but wonder whether she would want her memory to come between you and your friends."

He left it at that, pushing himself off of the seat with his cane and walking off, leaving Ruby to think.

**So, yeah. Ozpin replaced the gruff, out-of-the-blue OC to tremendous effect. Advice and backstory always work better when they're coming from established, existing characters. Especially characters like Ozpin (you can't deny the subtle, kinda-fatherly/mentor-ey feeling that guy has).**

**As for that bit with Weiss… no comment. Until the next chapter. Which, unless I royally mess it up, will be the last one for this story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: Well, this is it. The last chapter of The Vigil. Honestly, it's a bit of a personal achievement, to get so much out so quickly. I'll leave talking about content for the endnote. I do not own RWBY. Please review, comment, or criticize. Most of all, enjoy.**

As Professor Peach droned on about the various unconventional uses of Dust available and advisable to hunters, Ruby softly cleared her throat and tried hard to avoid looking at the rest of the team.

The day since her talk with Ozpin had been… awkward, to put it lightly. It was all too clear to everyone that they just wanted to air their feelings and get past this rough patch she had landed them in, but they had yet to find the time to do so properly. Healing rifts was hard to do in five-minute passing periods, and none of them were willing to try and do it in the inherent lulls in every class.

Ruby failed to keep her gaze focused on Professor Peach, and hesitantly looked at her team. Yang, Blake, and Weiss were doing much the same as she was, judging by their postures and expressions of somehow good-natured discomfort. Ruby swore she could feel the tension rising up around them like they were in some sort of magic trick trap-case being filled with water, only the water was tension. She gave a quick unsure smile and mouthed 'later.' She turned back to the lecture as Peach brought out several vials of Dust, water, burners and empty beakers.

Everyone in the class subconsciously scooted back their seats, though the professor didn't seem to notice, reaching beneath his desk to draw out a black hat that he put on his head before he turned on the burners.

* * *

It was clear at dinner that everyone wanted to talk, but just as clear that no-one wanted to be the one to start the conversation. They all just sat there, silently eating and trying to ignore the palpable awkwardness hanging in the air.

"So," Yang suddenly said, turning to Ruby. "Where exactly where you this morning?"

"Oh, I was just… wandering around the city. Downtown, mostly."

"Really? Because we were looking all over, and you weren't in any of the usual spots."

Ruby blushed fiercely and looked down at her food, poking at it.

"I, uh… I didn't know you were… uh-"

She was interrupted by a loud, long, exasperated sigh from Nora.

"UUUGH! Would you all just _talk_ about whatever the problem is already?" She tipped back her chair and threw her arms up. "This whole thing is starting to get absolutely ridiculous." She tipped back even further, to the point where everyone but Ren was certain she'd topple over, and crossed her arms, glaring expectantly at the entirety of Team RWBY.

"Um…" Ruby started hesitantly. "We'll… sort this out… tonight?" She looked questioningly at Yang, Blake and Weiss, and received hurried nods in response. They all turned back to their meals as Nora let out another exasperated groan and leaned back in, dropping her forehead sharply onto the table with enough force to shake the silverware.

* * *

Ruby closed the door to Team RWBY's room and slowly turned around to face her teammates, all sitting at the edges of their beds.

"So, I don't know if you know this, but-"

"I already told them." Yang cut in helpfully.

Ruby let out an exasperated sigh, but it was made moot by the smile she gave Yang seconds later.

"Well, I can get right to what I really need to say then." Ruby took a deep breath before she barreled on. "Listen, Weiss, Blake, I'm sorry I didn't tell you what I was doing, and I'm sorry I was gone all day, and half of today. I didn't mean to scare any of you, or make things harder, but I just-"

"Stop." Weiss said forcefully, holding up a hand. She got up from her bed and walked up to Ruby. "You've got nothing to be sorry about." She said.

That left everyone absolutely stunted for almost a minute.

"…What?" Ruby finally asked.

"Ruby, if I'd known what you were doing, I never would have acted the way I did." Weiss explained ardently. She stopped and thought for several seconds before continuing. "To be honest, I understand. A lot more than you probably think I do."

* * *

Weiss slowly stepped into the unfeasibly clean, sterile, smelling-of-disinfectant room. The doctors had thrown around a lot of large words that she didn't understand, but by the end of it, she was fairly sure she understood what they were saying.

Mommy was very sick, and it wasn't likely that she would ever get better. If Weiss understood that one scruffy, grouchy doctor with the cane, things were only going to get worse.

Weiss finally looked up at her, sleeping, lying in the bed, tubes running from all over her into large machines and screens; bags of fluid running in and out of her, one arm and her chest covered in casts. She looked incredibly pale. She looked so… weak. So tired. She'd never looked like that.

Weiss sniffled accidentally. She hadn't meant to make a sound, hadn't meant to disturb her. But she didn't seem to mind once she saw her.

Her face, that had before look so pained, lit with a smile that lacked none of its usual happiness. If anything, there was more to it now than there ever had been. She took a few gasping, ragged breaths.

"Come here, sweetie." She said softly, twitching her fingers inward a few times before they started involuntarily shaking on their own. Weiss slowly took a few steps before practically running to grab her mother's hand in both of her own. She didn't want to hug her, she looked so fragile.

Her mother did it for her, slowly leaning up from her bed and reaching around Weiss with her other arm as tears started dripping down her cheeks.

"Shush, shush," She whispered in Weiss's ear. "It'll be alright."

* * *

Weiss slowly unfolded her arms and took in the sorry, astonished looks of her teammates. She turned back to Ruby.

"If there's one thing I learned from that, it's that trying to bear that alone…" She shook her head. "You just can't do it. You need to let others in, let them help you." She slowly reached out and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby gave her a small smile, and nodded.

* * *

It was a clear warm Saturday afternoon. The kind most people would spend somewhere outdoors. Team RWBY's place of choice was somewhat unconventional, but it was a place they all decided they needed to be.

High up on the cliff, the four huntresses-in-training stood, Ruby at the front. All of them gazing at the small stone a few feet from the edge.

Yang reached up and put a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. She reached up to grab it, and turned to give her teammates a thankful smile.

They turned to the forest and started making their way back, Ruby pausing to give the stone a quick backward glance. It was the first time she'd ever brought others along.

They were halfway through the woods when it happened. Yang had pushed through some bushes and quickly dove right back through them. She rolled to her feet and let Ember Celica extended down her arms as several Beowolves, and what looked like a few Ursi, emerged from the surrounding forest.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud from its sheath. Weiss slid Myrtenaster off her hip. Ruby let Crescent Rose unfold in her hands. The four looked at each other and let small smiles grace their faces before they launched themselves into the fray.

**Well, like I said, this is probably the most intensive fic schedule I've ever kept to. Also, I hope those two TV references came across. I'm sure we can all guess who Professor Peach is mimicking, with his chemistry and his hat (And if that doesn't make it clear, I don't know what will). Also, as to Peach being the chemistry guy, all we really know for sure right now is that there's a professor at Beacon who's last name is Peach, and Peach wanted samples of tree sap from Forever Fall. I just assumed Peach was inclined to Dust-chemistry based on the need for tree sap samples, and the gender and reference joke hit me in a bit of mid-writing-break yotube-inspired-ness. As for the other reference, it's about a doctor. I won't say who, but I hope it gets across.**

**Also, in case there's confusion, that list bit, about the Saturday; that's not the next year's Vigil. That's the team visiting the Altar the Saturday of the week in the story (I realize I never actually said anywhere what days most of the story was happening in, beyond Oobleck's timing of reading homework. For any who care, the first two chapters were on a Tuesday. These last two have happened over a Wednesday. Therefore, the Vigil falls on the same Tuesday each year for Ruby. And her friends).**

**Anyway, I'd like to just thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited The Vigil. **


End file.
